Finance Ministry trims number of life insurance beneficiaries under Jan Dhan Yojna

New Delhi: Only those who are not getting benefit of any government sponsored scheme will be eligible for life insurance policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), according to Finance Ministry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Jan Dhan Yojana for comprehensive financial inclusion from the ramparts of the Red Fort on October 2 .

As per PMJDY, account holders will be provided zero-balance bank account with ruPay debit card, in addition to accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. Besides, the government has also made provision of life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 for account holders.

However, according to new directives released by the Finance Ministry, the benefit of the life insurance will be provided only to those people who will open their bank accounts between August 15, 2014 to January 26, 2015. The benefit will be provided only to head of the family or earning member of the family.

Besides, the Finance Ministry has also made it clear that only one person of the family who has a active ruPay card will get the benefit under the ambitious PMJDY. The life insurance cover under PMJDY will be provided only for the first five years.

According to Finance Ministry, retired employees of Central and state governments, employees and family members of public sector undertakings and banks are also ineligible for the life insurance policy attached with Jan Dhan Yojna.

In from that those who are filing income tax returns will also not get the benefit of the scheme under PMJDY. Those who are already taking the benefit under Aam Aadmi Bima Yojna will also be ineligible for the scheme.

More than 7.5 crore bank accounts were opened under this scheme with around Rs 60,000 crore were deposited in the banks under the scheme, which also has an option for opening new bank accounts with zero balance.